Nitrogen + Smoke = iCream Cafe!

Since July is National Ice Cream Monthly, you’re obliged to eat ice cream for 31 days! I’m kidding, but it sure is tempting!

If you’ve lived in and/or visited Chicago, IL or Frisco, TX (25 minutes north of Dallas), then you’re in for a special treat because these two cities are home of the only two U.S. locations for iCream Cafe.

A neighbor of mine actually recommended we try it, and as soon as I watched the video below explaining the awesome process of how they make their ice cream, I was sold!

Frisco, Tx water tower — 2nd iCream Cafe location: Frisco, Texas (source: Flickr)

Since I’m a native Dallas resident, I didn’t have to travel very far! My sister Brittany and her husband Colby actually joined me on my quest for ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and smoke, as the thought of making ice cream from scratch, right in front of our eyes was too good to pass up!

It was quite busy on a Friday night!

When you first walk in, you’re greeted by a huge silver cylinder labeled “nitrogen + smoke = creamy consistency” sign. Ice cream of the future if you ask me!

iCream Frisco

Then you see all of the white mixers hooked up to some crazy silver contraption, containing the liquid nitrogen used to make ice cream in front of your very eyes!

What’s cool about the entire process is that your frozen treat is made right there on the spot. The menu is just three easy steps, but for someone as indecisive as I am, it took me about 10 minutes to finally figure out the combination I wanted!

The menu was as follows:

Choose to make ice cream, yogurt, sorbet, a shake, or hot pudding.
Select your dessert base: regular, light, organic, soy, regular, or non-fat.
Pick one or (two flavors max), and then the fruit or candy mix-ins to add.

Sounds easy right? Wrong! Look at what I had to pick from:

Flavors: apple, banana, blueberry, cake, caramel, cherry, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee, cream soda, curry, green tea, hazelnut, lemon, lime, mango, mint, orange, peach, pistachio, pomegranate, raspberry, red velvet, strawberry, toasted marshmallow, vanilla, white chocolate

Toppings: bananas, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, butterfinger, chocolate chips, heath bar, jelly bellys, m&ms, peanut butter cups, gum balls, gummi bears, reese’s pieces, snickers, cookie dough, cream cheese, granola, nuts, nutella, peanut butter, pistachios, oreos, white chocolate

So what did I choose????

Well, if you know me, I HAD to choose Oreo’s as my topping…. it’s my favorite!! I was debating what else to add, but thought I’d keep it simple.

Now for the base. I went with a “light” base (thought I’d save on some calories since I was ordering Oreos).

Finally, the flavor is what took me the longest. I didn’t know if I should go wild and pick something crazy like orange-vanilla or if I should keep it simple. I ended up going with cake and vanilla as my flavors to get an extra sweet taste. 🙂

The ice cream tasted pretty good. It had a different texture, probably because I got the “light” version. Colby got the “regular” base, and his was a bit creamier than mine.

While I’d still say that Double Dip Frozen Custard and Paciugo Gelato are my two favorite places for frozen treats, iCream Cafe was a really unique ice cream store where your combinations are virtually unlimited!

It was an awesome experience and atmosphere, and next time you’re in Chicago or in the Dallas area, go check it out. If not for ice cream, but for their crazy liquid nitrogen mixers!!!

iCream Cafe: http://www.icreamcafe.com

Gordon, Texas and Nila’s Skillet Cookies

This past weekend my sister and I headed to “out to the country” to visit relatives who just built a house in Gordon, Texas.

99% of you have probably NEVER heard or Gordon, and there’s a good reason why.

Gordon: Population: 519. At least that’s what the sign said. 🙂

The little town is about 30 minutes west of Weatherford off I-20, and is the epitome of Texas country. It has everything you’d ever image from a small Texas town including windy dirt roads and rolling hills, a 6-man football team, cows, cowboy boots, cowboy hats, horses, and stables. It’s peaceful and perfect. Almost like what you would expect from the movies.

gordon texas — Brittany and I went running and stopped for a picture at the top of the hill. It doesn’t look like a big hill, but trust us, it was!!

Our cousins had a blast on their horses.

We had breakfast at a little cafe. The pancakes were as big as the plate and this cow was staring at us the whole time!

We also got to visit with my great aunt Nanny. She’s 91 years old and still LOVES sweets, especially chocolate thus we brought her my Mom’s secret ingredient brownies.

Nanny’s older sister was Nila, my grandmother. Recently my mom, sister and I had been going through Nila’s old green recipe box and tabbing the ones we wanted to make. One of those recipes were these easy no-bake skillet cookies.

skillet cookie recipe — Nila’s handwritten recipe for Skillet Cookies.

All our relatives at Gordon LOVED the skillet cookies and thus we kept going back for seconds and thirds. No one, including us had ever heard of a cookie like this, and while the ingredient list (dates, pecans, coconut, sugar, butter and eggs) doesn’t sound too appetizing, the cookies are surprisingly good!

Not only are the skillet cookies pretty (I think they look like little truffles rolled in finely shredded coconut), they take less than 30 minutes to make.

Sometimes old-timey recipes are the best ones; case in point: these skillet cookies. Now we’ll just have to see what other recipes Nila has in that old green box of hers!!

Nila’s Skillet Cookies

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Nila’s Skillet Cookies

Ingredients

2 eggs (well-beaten)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. Karo syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package (8 oz) chopped dates
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups Rice Krispies
Coconut, unsweetened and finely shredded

Instructions

Combine eggs, sugar, butter, Karo and dates in a large skillet.
Cook for 8-10 minutes on medium-low, stirring constantly. We saw tiny little bubbles start to form, but we did not bring to a full boil.
Remove from fire/heat and add vanilla, nuts and Rice Krispies.
Mix well and let cool slightly.
Butter your fingers (butter works better than cooking spray), and pinch dough into balls. Roll the balls in the coconut.

Texas Sheet Cake

Texas sheet cake, the official state cake of Texas, is a huge, pecan-topped chocolate cake with three distinct layers of chocolaty goodness. It has a diverse range of textures created when the sweet chocolate icing is poured over the hot cake. When the cake has cooled, you’re left with an icing layer, a fudgy layer where the icing and hot cake have melded together, and a bottom layer of moist cake. This cake is easy to make (no mixer is required) and is great to take to potlucks and parties because as the name suggests, it’s baked in a sheet pan and serves a crowd.

My sister, Brittany made this recipe for her boyfriend and his Oklahoma State University teammates after (not before, or else they’ll get sick in their 2 mile race!) they run in the Track & Field: Big 12 Championships in Norman, Oklahoma. I know they will love Texas sheet cake, just like our whole family. My husband likes to call these “brownies with icing,” but Texas sheet cake really tastes more like cake, just like the name implies. Brownies are denser, and heavier. These are lighter, and cakey in texture, but no less chocolaty than brownies. Leave these in the refrigerator for a more intense flavor.

Enjoy!

Texas Sheet Cake
Ingredients
Cake
2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups (14 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Chocolate Icing
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
3 cups (12 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Directions
1. For the cake: Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 18-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, yolks, vanilla, and sour cream in another bowl until smooth.
2. Heat the chocolate, butter, oil, water, and cocoa in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture until incorporated. Whisk the egg mixture into the batter, then pour into the prepared baking sheet. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.
3. For the icing: About 5 minutes before the cake is done, heat the butter, cream, cocoa, and corn syrup in a large saucepan over medium heat stirring occasionally, until smooth. Off the heat, whisk in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Spread the warm icing evenly over the hot cake and sprinkle with the pecans. Let the cake cool to room temperature on the wire rack, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until the icing is set, about 1 hour longer. Cut into 3-inch squares. Serve. (The cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

Yield: 24 servings
The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2009